Seemingly building a reputation within brainstorms for throwing out the term ‘Augmented Reality’ (AR) without much back up, I started to question if I fully understood the capabilities of this increasingly fashionable term.
Defined by Wikipedia as ‘a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are augmented by virtual computer-generated imagery’ I realised I was not really any the wiser.
Having experienced examples using a ‘magic symbol’ where one can hold up a piece of card in front of a webcam and before you know it, a space rocket is taking off in the palm of your hand; JLS appear with an exclusive performance; or even a fashion show of models appear on the table before your very eyes (all on-screen, yet seemingly in front of you).
All a bit of fun plus added wow factor (as long as you have a webcam), however as I researched further, I found some interesting ways AR is increasingly becoming part of brand activity.
Hugo Boss livened up their Christmas window displays with a sales promotion through an interactive game to drive people in store.
Fashionista use AR to allow customers to ‘virtually try on clothes’.
A really fun example is by Yahoo, which was simple and engaging, and was installed during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Through motion detection, passersby appeared on screen to be dressed in various accessories from hats and scarves, to sunglasses or rain hats.
AR is clearly developing fast. As a late adopter in many forms of technology I don’t own an iPhone – yet – however am curious around the AR capabilities it offers. iPhone users can download various applications that use the phone’s camera and GPS capabilities to gather information about the surrounding area. Then information about pretty much anything programmed such as restaurants or bars, overlay on the phone’s screen. In the Netherlands you can even point the phone at a building, and the Layar application will tell you if any companies in that building are hiring, or it might be able to find photos of the building on Flickr or to locate its history on Wikipedia.
It is thought that soon we will be walking or driving down the street with augmented reality displays, which will be viewed through what, looks much like a normal pair of glasses, with informative graphics appearing in our field of view, and audio will coincide with whatever we see. These enhancements will be refreshed continually to reflect the movements of your head.
I continue to be intrigued by the merging of the physical and virtual world, and look forward to seeing how far this can go…and to buying myself an iPhone!
By Samantha Pillage on August 9th, 2010
Tags: Brand marketing, Branded content, Communications, Experiential marketing, Olympics, Vancouver 2010, YouTube




















